Icasa, South Africa’s communications regulator, is complaining about grey market Starlink dish sales in South Africa. Starlink is not licensed in the country. Icasa says such sales are illegal and “must stop immediately”. Icasa believes that dishes and modems are being brought into South Africa from neighbouring countries where they are licensed to operate. Starlink […]

A media delegation from South Korea visited the Thales Alenia Space satellite production facility in Toulouse, France, to examine Koreasat 6A and its payload. The visitors heard that the launch is on schedule for the winter of 2024-2025. The satellite uses Thales Alenia’s flight-proven Spacebus 4000 system, and will replace Koreasat 6 currently in orbit. […]

SpaceX plans to sell new shares in December to investors, according to reports. Elon Musk raised around $750 million (€686.9m) in July this year for SpaceX. SpaceX is a closely held business and is expected to issue a tender offer which values the company at about $1.5 billion. The cash raised in July gave the […]

Starship Test Flight Number 3 could be ready for launch this side of Christmas. The Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) is currently conducting its post-launch ‘mishap’ investigation on the November 18th Test Flight Number 2. But with zero injuries and no public property damage there is little for the FAA to worry about. The FAA says: […]

SpaceX’s Starlink dish has been completely redesigned with a much simpler concept. Starlink has redesigned its high-tech antenna. The latest versions have eliminated the automatic self-seeking positioning motors. The supplied instructions now talk about positioning the dish terminal as being with “manual orienting”. In other words, the customer positions the dish. The new dish (officially […]

Elon Musk, speaking ahead of the November 19th Starship launch, denied a Bloomberg report that his rocket company SpaceX was discussing an initial public offering (IPO) for its satellite internet business, Starlink – perhaps as soon as 2024. Musk, posting on his social media platform X, specifically described the Bloomberg report as “false”. The report […]

SpaceX’s giant Starship has received all the necessary approvals for launch on November 17th. The FAA, as well as the US Fish and Wildlife Service, issued their approvals on November 15th. The launch window opens at 0n 13.00 pm GMT on November 17th. The launch is insured for $500 million. The sum is reportedly the […]

SpaceX could launch its second test flight of its Starship rocket on Novembr 17th. However, the rocket company says that it is still – as at November 13th – awaiting formal permission to come from the Federal Aviation Administration and other regulatory agencies. Elon Musk, in a Tweet/X on Novembr 14th said: “Was just informed […]

A SpaceX rocket has launched two O3b/mPOWER satellites into their transfer orbit for SES. The launch, shortly after 4pm Florida time on November 12th, took the mPOWER 5 and 6 on their way to a mid-Earth orbit at 8,000 kms in altitude. Signals were received after launch which indicate that all was well, however further […]

SpaceX will launch two O3b mPOWER satellites for SES on November 12th, the rocket company has confirmed, although subject to weather conditions being favourable. The two satellites are the 5th and 6th are in the expanded O3b/mPower constellation which will eventually comprise 13 craft. However, two are known to have potential problems. The first four […]